Reviews by trevorwideman:

Pours an almost opaque cola colour with some brown highlights when held up to the light. 1 1/2 inch tan head with lots of lace, good retention. Carbonation seems fairly high. Aroma is less smoky than what might be expected. Light smokiness followed by a bitter roasted coffee aroma. Light brown sugary sweetness in the back.

Taste starts off with a good dose of lactic sourness followed by what I would describe as a granny smith fruity tartness, a little unexpected. Smoke is more pronounced in the flavour, but I still think I've found more "smoke" characted in some beers that weren't advertised as such. Hard metallic twang all over the mouth is a bit unpleasant. Subdued roasted malt with some molasses sweetness. I find this beer almost shockingly acidic though, I wish that this was more balanced. The flavour profile is one dimensional and messy for me. Aftertaste is all sour roasted malt messiness. Body is medium with a carbonation that's just a bit too high for my liking. Fairly dry and stringent and almost charred tasting in the finish, like eating burnt toast. I'm not a big fan of this at all, this bomber is going to be a tough one to get to the bottom of. (1,246 characters)

More User Reviews:

Thanks to bu11zeye for sharing this bottle. Not sure if I got the best bottle produced, but I thought it was much better than the reviews indicated.

The beer pours a brown color with a tan head. The aroma is dark fruit, smoke and roasted malt. The flavor is roasted and chocolate malt with a nice touch of smoke. Medium mouthfeel and medium carbonation.

A smokey, lighter bodied stout. Not reflective of a thicker oatmeal stout, but not bad, and certainly was drinkable over a long lunch.Some off flavours from the start,grows on you Some decent smoke aroma.Had again 4.5 years later, a little off but so-so drinkability. (268 characters)

Pours a very dark ruby, quite similar to Guinness. Short creamy head, but it's gone after the first sip. No lacings at all.

Surprisingly smokey. Fortunately no sour twang, which you often get from this brewer.

Very smokey. I wish I could say more about the taste, but that's really all I get. In your face, charcoal, smoke. You get a glimpse of the malt right up front, quite soft with a tinge of sweetness. Bitterness there, but it's part of the smokey flavour as opposed to a mouth coating bitterness.

This really wasn't a bad beer, I could down this instead of a Guinness. All the taste of a Rauchbier, but much more drinkable. (634 characters)

still in the fridge from a winter trade with andrenaline, a few months past the best before dateA - dark but clear, a short head dissipated very quickly to a few random spotsS - caramel, coffee, and smoky aromas with hints of grainsT - cold pressed coffee and peaty smoked malts dominate, a bit much on the sweet quality, with a grassy hop background, its a little all over the placeM - more like a porter feel in that its relatively thin and well carbonated, not a bad feel but not what you'd for an oatmeal stoutO - its got potential and elements of the flavours are there, but its just to disconnected from the style it claims to be, not a great oatmeal stout or smoked beer, but not bad (695 characters)

Bottle: Poured a clear black color stout with a big foamy head with minimal retention and no lacing. Aroma is somewhat sour with some light subtle smoke. Taste is dominated by some disgusting sweetness with some light smoke and a sour aftertaste which leads me to believe we have another infected bottle from this atrocious brewer. (331 characters)

Another beer from Trafalgar and I will admit they are improving ( slowly mind you). It pours a dark black with some ruby colors as well. Has a light brown head, not the best retention for a stout and some lacing.

Smells of molasses, fruits, roasted malts and a bit of smokiness.

The taste is unbalanced (IMO). There is to much sour fruitiness ( something that I am used to by now). Also has notes of sweet malt and just a dash of smoked malt. Nothing I would drink again but still a good effort. (497 characters)

T: Chocolate, toasted note, really a stout as any smoke is subtle and normal for a stout, its not smoky as I was expecting from the name. Getting a little more wood smoke as I aerate it over my tongue like in a wine tasting. Slight cherry, wood bark.

M: Medium thick body, medium low carbonation.

O: As I really aerate it, I’m lovin it. Too bad the smoke flavours aren’t more apparent. Still its a great stout. (693 characters)

Appearance - The beer pours a black/brown colour with an average size fizzy beige coloured head. I can't see much carbonation due the darkness of the beer and there is some fairly good lacing on the sides of the glass. The head lasted for 5 minutes before it was gone.

Smell - Chocolate, malts, smoke, musty

Taste & Mouth - The beer has an average amount of carbonation and I can taste chocolate mixed with malts and a roasted/smoke taste. Unfortunately there is also a bit of an odd musty flavour.. not much, but it's there. It ends with a chocolate and roasted bitter aftertaste.

Overall – I generally try to stay away from this brewer, but this actually wasn't too bad of a beer. Other than the odd musty taste it was fairly decent and drinkable. I wouldn't buy it again, but it wasn't a drain pour as expected. (832 characters)

Bottle from the LCBO, 650ml into a pint glass. Best before February 2012. So I bit again, with another $5 on a Trafalgar beer - felt like I needed to, with the hype behind this one.

Pours a dark brown, with a bit of burgundy in the light. A large, tan and soapy head, leaves some lace and and mild retention. Nose is fairly mild, some oats, burnt wafer/cracker notes, A bit of butter or maybe some butterscotch. Taste has some roasted oats, a bit of chocolate but there's no smoke to be found here. More buttery notes in the malts, and almost resembles an English stout more than anything. No real aftertaste, just a bit more malt and residual roast. Fairly low carbonation, and somewhat hefty body. Certainly not horrible. This could pass as an English stout I'd think, but still remains average all around. Give me more smoke! (829 characters)

100 cl sample, LCBO tasting- Pours a thick and fizzy beige head. BOdy is cola brown. Roasty, slightly nutty aroma, some smokey undertones, some burnt sugars. It's all very mild, but this is the first beer from these guys that hasn't smelled like a fruity yeast infection. FLavour profile is mild roasty malts, some coffee, a touch of molasses a pinch of hops biterness. Not nearly as thick as other oatmeals I have had, and it's not as smoked as I expected, but come to think of it, I was expecting this to be horrid, and it wasn't. (532 characters)

650ml bottle purchased as a single from the LCBO booth at the Toronto Royal Winter Fair.

Poured into an imperial pint glass, formed a 1/4" tan head over the clear dark brown brew. Head is down to an even layer of bubbles pretty quick, with good lacing. Aroma is sweet and chocolatey, no note of advertised smoke.

Taste pretty much follows the nose, sweet dark malts to start, powdered chocolate in the middle, lightly bitter close. Mouthfeel is pretty smooth, and drinkability is okay. This one is middle of the road for me, but it annoys that I note no smoke anywhere. (572 characters)

Bomber picked up at the LCBO; best before January 2012. I think this is the fourth Trafalgar beer I've reviewed; I have not yet been impressed with any of their brews but on the flip side of that coin, none of them have been truly awful either.

Pours a completely pitch-black colour - even holding this up to the light I'm struggling to make out any highlighted colours. I was purposefully aggressive while pouring this, but it still struggled to generate much more than a half-finger of bubbly tan head that soon died off. A foamy cap and collar remain, with respectable quantities of lacing. A pleasing malty aroma emanates from the glass, with definite hints of roasted oats, baker's chocolate, and creamy espresso. A bit of smoky character on the nose.

I'm not about to start raving about this stuff, but it definitely has a leg up on some of the other things I've tried from this brewer. Mostly malt character as one would expect - roasted oats, hazelnuts with bittersweet chocolate and smokiness; the latter two linger for a bit after swallowing. Some spent coffee grind notes provide a bit of bitterness. It does have that weird Trafalgar yeast taste that I am not a huge fan of, but the other flavours make up for it. Medium-light bodied, a bit too watery with low-ish carbonation level. Not a lot of stickiness on the palate.

I'm a bit stunned - Trafalgar has made a reasonably good beer. I may even get this again, although the price makes this proposition a bit iffy! The body is a bit light, but overall this is pretty yummy stuff. Keep in mind this is the first smoked beer I have ever had, let alone reviewed - but I found it enjoyable. Worth a try, in my opinion.

Update 11/27/2011: there was a 341 mL bottle of this in the OCB winter sampler so I figured I'd comment on it again. Not quite as good as I remember; less smoke and a weaker flavour in general. Still, none of the QA issues usually associated with this brewery are apparent. Much, much more heavily carbonated than I remember which is not advantageous here. The 'B' I gave this last time was probably a bit generous but it's still quaffable enough. (2,131 characters)